领略原汁原味汉英对照经典名作
暗红习作
      In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army . Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself , and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety , where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.
      The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.
      Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the veranda, when I was struck down by enteric fever,that curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly , in the troopship Orontes, and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.
      I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country , or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living.
      Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile.
      On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford,who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom.
      “Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?”
      he asked in undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. “You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut.”
      I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that we reached our destination.
      “Poor devil!” he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. “What are you up to now?”
      “Looking for lodgings,” I answered. “Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price.”
      “That’s a strange thing,” remarked my companion; “you are the second man today that has used that expression to me.”
      “And who was the first?” I asked.
      “A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse.”
      “By Jove!” I cried, “if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone.”
      Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wineglass. “You don’t know Sherlock Holmes yet,” he said;“perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion.”
      “Why, what is there against him?”
      “Oh, I didn’t say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas—an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.”
      “A medical student, I suppose?” said I.
      “No—I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-way knowledge which would astonish his professors.”
      “Did you never ask him what he was going in for?” I asked.
      “No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him.”
      “I should like to meet him,” I said. “If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?”
      “He is sure to be at the laboratory,” returned my companion.
      “He either avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, we shall drive round together after luncheon.”
      “Certainly,” I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels.
      As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, Stamford gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow-lodger.

中文翻译
      一八七八年，我拿到了伦敦大学的医学博士学位，接着就到内特雷医院去进修军医课程。课程刚刚修完，我就奉命前往诺森伯兰第五燧发枪团，充当该团的军医助理。那个团当时驻扎在印度，可我人还没到，第二次阿富汗战争就打了起来。在孟买下船的时候，我听说我那个团已经穿越重重关隘，挺进到了敌境深处。即便如此，我还是和许多处境相似的军官一起跟了上去，并且安全地抵达了坎大哈。我在那里找到了自己的团队，立刻就投入了新的工作。
      许多人都通过这场战争取得了荣誉和升迁，我的收获却只是霉运和灾难。当时我奉命转入伯克郡步兵团，跟那支部队一起参加了伤亡惨重的迈万德战役。战役当中，我肩上中了一颗捷泽尔枪弹，肩胛骨被打碎，锁骨下方的动脉也擦伤了。多亏了勤务兵穆雷的忠诚和勇气，我才没有落到回教士兵的手里。他把受伤的我扔到一匹驮马的背上，带着我安全地回到了英军的阵地。
      创痛令我形销骨立，长期的艰苦生活又令我虚弱不堪，于是他们就让我离开战场，跟一大群伤员一起去了白沙瓦的后方医院。我在那里休养生息，到后来已经能够在病床周围走动走动，甚至能够到阳台上去晒晒太阳了。就在那时，我又遭遇了印度殖民地为我们特备的那种诅咒，染上了伤寒。几个月的时间里，我一直都是命悬一线。等到我终于恢复神智、开始痊愈的时候，我已经虚弱憔悴得不成样子，以致医生们决定立刻打发我回英格兰，一天也不能耽搁。就这样，我被他们遣送回国，坐上了“奥伦蒂斯号”运兵船。一个月之后，我在朴茨茅斯码头上了岸，健康已经遭受了无法挽回的损害。还好，爱民如子的政府准了我九个月的假期，好让我调养身体。
      我在英格兰无亲无故，因此就拥有空气一般的自由——换句话说，拥有一个每天收入十一先令零六便士的人所能拥有的最大自由。既然如此，我便顺理成章地选择了伦敦，因为它好比是一个巨大的污水池，大英帝国境内所有的游民懒汉都会不由自主地流到那里去。我在斯特兰街的一家出租公寓里住了一段时间，过着一种苦闷无聊的生活，而且大手大脚地花钱，远远超过了应有的限度。到后来，我的经济状况恶化到了让人恐慌的地步，以致我很快就意识到，我要么选择离开伦敦、到乡下去过日子，要么就得彻底改变自己的生活方式。我选择了后一种办法，第一步便是打定主意，要离开那家公寓，另找一个不那么浮华也不那么昂贵的住处。
      就在作出上述决定的当天，我站在克莱蒂伦酒吧的门前，有人拍了拍我的肩膀。我转过头去，看见了年轻的斯坦福德，他是我在巴茨医院求学时的一个助手。能在伦敦这样的汪洋大海当中看到一张友善的脸庞，对一个孤苦伶仃的人来说实在是一件值得高兴的事情。照过去的情况来说，斯坦福德和我并没有什么特别的交情，眼下呢，我却兴高采烈地跟他打起了招呼，而他也是一副很高兴看到我的样子。兴奋之余，我便邀请他跟我一起去霍尔伯恩饭店吃午饭。再下来，我们就坐上马车出发了。
      “华生，这阵子你都在干什么呢？”马车辚辚地碾过拥挤的伦敦街道，斯坦福德突然问我，丝毫不掩饰自己的诧异。“看你瘦得像把柴禾，脸也黄得跟蜡一样。”我大致说了说自己的经历，还没来得及说完，目的地已经到了。
      “真够倒霉的！”听完了我的种种不幸遭遇，他满怀同情地说道。“眼下你有什么打算呢？”
      “我在找住处，”我回答道。“想看看这地方究竟有没有条件舒适、价钱也合理的房子。”
      “怪事，”我的同伴说道，“你这种说法，今天我已经是第二次听到了。”
      “第一次是听谁说的呢？”我问道。
      “一个在医院实验室工作的家伙说的。今天早上他还在唉声叹气，说他找到了一处相当不错的房子，只可惜负担不起房租，又找不到人来跟自己分摊。”
      “我的天！”我叫道，“要是他真想找人合租房子的话，找我就再合适不过了。我喜欢有个伴儿，比一个人住强。”斯坦福德端着酒杯，惊讶不已地看了看我。“你这么说，是因为你还不了解歇洛克·福尔摩斯这个人，”他说道，“兴许，你不会愿意与他长期为伴。”
      “为什么，他有什么毛病吗？”
      “呃，我并不是说他有毛病。他只是想法有点儿古怪，对某种科学特别热衷。据我所知，他为人还是相当正派的。”
      “他是个医科学生，对吧？”我说道。
      “不是——我不知道他到底想研究什么。按我看，他对解剖学很是在行，还是个第一流的药剂师。不过，据我所知，他从来也没有接受过系统的医学训练。他搞的都是些杂七杂八、古里古怪的研究，但却积累了一大堆非常冷门的知识，能把他的教授们吓一大跳。”
      “难道你从来没问过他到底在研究什么吗？”我问道。
      “没问过。他这个人不会轻易吐露心事。话说回来，兴致来了的时候，他也是满健谈的。”
      “我想跟他见个面，”我说道。“如果要跟人合住的话，我倒希望对方是个勤勉好学、性格安静的人。我这个人不够强壮，承受不了太多噪音和刺激。那两样东西，我在阿富汗的时候就已经受够了，这辈子也不想再受。我怎么才能见到你这位朋友呢？”
      “他这会儿肯定是在实验室里，”我的同伴回答道。“他要么是连着几个星期都不上那里去，要么就在那里没日没夜地工作。你要愿意的话，午饭之后我们可以一起去找他。”
      “好的，”我满口应承。接下来，我们就聊起了别的一些事情。
      从霍尔伯恩饭店去医院的路上，斯坦福德又跟我谈起了我打算引为室友的这位先生，对他的脾性作了几点补充说明。

点击更多 “福尔摩斯系列探案全集”